A 21-year-old Polish political prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau. He works various labor details, including the "Canada" detail that unloads incoming freight trains, and later trains as a medical orderly in the hospital. He writes letters describing camp conditions, questions his own morality as he unloads transports, and actively barters to procure extra food to survive.

A French prisoner and Tadek's bunkmate who works on the Canada detail unloading new arrivals. He has held this position for months and displays a detached attitude toward the violence. He prioritizes his own survival and access to food stolen from the incoming transports.

An older Jewish man at the Harmenz subcamp who formerly held authority in another camp. At his previous camp, he brutally punished people for stealing food, yet at Auschwitz, he is consumed by extreme hunger and steals from other inmates.

An outsider who lives near the Harmenz work area. She brings food to certain inmates, particularly Tadek, and occasionally trades items with them. She shows distress when the inmates endure physical beatings from the guards.

A cruel supervisor at the Harmenz subcamp who wears the inverted red triangle of a political prisoner, indicating he is a Communist. He exploits his authority to beat his workers and takes pleasure in distributing extra soup rations based on personal whims.

An inmate training alongside Tadek to be a doctor in the camp hospital. He maintains a fighting spirit, having previously saved his wife by killing an attacking guard dog. He views the sadistic pleasure camp guards take in violence as an evolutionary regression.

A high-ranking S.S. officer who takes his job seriously and cannot be bribed. He enjoys torturing and murdering inmates and holds a strong sense of self-righteousness about his brutal actions, believing himself untouchable.

A Jewish clerk in the hospital who uses influential contacts to secure a desk job, avoiding hard physical labor. He assists in the selection process by keeping records of sick patients, yet tightly guards a package of personal belongings when his own health fails.

A large man with bad kidneys who occupies the hospital bed next to Tadek. Resenting his physical confinement, he uses his authority to demand that Tadek entertain him with true personal stories.

A famous Polish writer who visits Tadek and his friends in West Germany after the war. Having avoided incarceration in the concentration camps, he maintains a belief in human selflessness and self-sacrifice that the survivors flatly reject.

Tadek's fiancée who is imprisoned in the women's camp. Tadek writes her letters, adopting a conversational and deliberately optimistic tone to describe his surroundings, attempting to mask the bleaker realities of his daily existence.

An inmate who trades valuable soap with Mrs. Haneczka in exchange for lard. He brutally attacks Becker for stealing Tadek's food and later takes responsibility for a stolen goose, silently enduring the resulting punishment.

A Russian sailor working in the apple orchard at Harmenz. He exhibits a hardened attitude toward the camp's cruelties, aggressively forcing incoming prisoners into transport trucks and strictly following orders to execute struggling marchers.

An inmate who explores the camp facilities with Tadek and Witek while waiting for medical training to begin. He communicates with Tadek through brief, terse letters containing stark updates about the executions of their peers.

Tadek's old friend from his work Kommando who is reassigned to the crematorium. He adapts to the horrific, repetitive nature of his work by viewing the disposal of bodies as a form of dark entertainment to maintain his sanity.

A young boy Tadek meets in prison before arriving at Auschwitz. He constantly reads the Bible in a desperate attempt to hide his Jewish identity from the authorities and his fellow cellmates.